It Seems Like I Fell into a Reverse Harem Game V2 C11.3

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Volume 2 Chapter 11.3

Hi, Jujubb here! I’m so, so sorry for the wait! I’m back now after graduation and will be posting weekly!! Thank you all so much for being patient:D Since the last chapter was a while ago I won’t respond to those comments (I will read them tho!) but I’ll also be resuming that from this chapter onward!

***

The festival ended, but the banquet continued. Many people were busy making the Rothschild delegation comfortable. The emperor, too, kept glancing over at the delegation while making small talk.

And Yuriel stayed with the delegation. She didn’t seem to care what people would think if she ignored the nobles of her own country to mingle with the foreign delegation.

To put it politely, she was full of confidence, the very image of royalty. She seemed confident that she was the most radiant person in the room.

And it was true. No one could deny her unparalleled beauty.

“…That’s a very pretty color.”

Yuriel touched the crown prince’s hair. Kairos smiled picturesquely. 

“I was pretty content with the color of my hair when I was little, but nowadays I’m a little jealous of redheads. I guess I’m a little bitter that I have nothing in common with my new family.”

“Thank you. However, your black hair suits you very well, too.”

“Do you think so? Lately, I’ve been hoping for at least my child to have red hair if I marry a redheaded man. It’s a small hope of mine.”

“I wish you every success with that. I’m sure your wish will come true.”

“O-Oh, yes. Thank you.”

No one could deny that Yuriel’s interest in Kairos was so great it was practically overflowing.

On the other hand, the people were divided on Kairos’s feelings because, while he seemed disinterested, he hadn’t stopped being kind to her.

Those who knew Kairos’s history as a rake were convinced he was holding back on account of the onlookers and would drop his pants as soon as the two of them were alone; the nobles meanwhile were troubled by the maid-turned-princess sullying the reputation of the empire; but to most people, the two made a handsome pair and it seemed good things were in store for the two nations’ diplomatic relations.

The emperor watched all of this unfold with an unreadable expression.

Yuriel tried again.

“Now that it’s the new year, I can’t help but miss my childhood.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. I liked so many things when I was little, and I was afraid of so many things too.”

Kairos’s expression didn’t change. Embarrassment flashed across Yuriel’s face as she floundered to make him talk to her, but she quickly put on a honey-sweet smile.

“For example, ghosts… or the man next door who would yell at me for no reason.”

That was when it happened. Kairos suddenly spoke up.

“I am afraid of red hair.”

“Pardon?”

But Kairos wouldn’t elaborate. Even though Yuriel asked him about it several more times after that, he simply gave her a meaningful smile and asked if she’d like any desserts.

Information about ‘the person he’s afraid of’: 3%

In any case, she’d gotten some amount of information out of him. 

“Now then, I must return to my chambers. My head is hurting after a few glasses of alcohol.”

“What? Are you okay? Do you want me to come with you?”

“You should enjoy yourself, Princess. It would be a waste of a party.”

“But…”

“We have more than enough time. Don’t we?”

The crown prince smiled elegantly. The man sparkled underneath the light of the chandelier with just enough of his features in shadow, that it made Yuriel want to know more. His well-fitting dark blue suit and the full lace against his slightly tanned throat were enticing. 

“Then, will you invite me over sometime?”

“Perhaps…”

His gray eyes sparkled lightly as if to claim innocence even though they were capable of darkening bewitchingly. Yuriel felt a little surge of desire. As though he could read her thoughts, the man flashed her a straight set of teeth.

Yeah, there was no need to rush things.

“Then rest well.”

Ding!

Affection increases by 2.

His affection had only increased after she stopped trying to hold onto him. Even after a few conversations, Yuriel could tell that he was someone who would say one thing and mean another.

He looked harmless and captivating, but he could be poisonous. Thinking that he was a man after her own heart, Yuriel smiled.

***

“Did you check?”

“Yes.”

Nadricka undid his jacket, which had been done up to his chin, and plopped down on the seat opposite.

A strong stench of alcohol made Robia pinch his nose closed and lean back. The movement must have pulled at his wound, because he flinched and hunched over. Nadricka didn’t miss a beat.

“They’re planning on meeting up again tomorrow. I saw the attendance list. Viscountess Evonto. And… Jarvin Pollock.”

“Then we’ll do it tomorrow.”

Going to the mind-numbingly boring banquet every day had been a drag.

 “I’m finally free.”

“Free? That’s a bit of an exaggeration, don’t you think? You think you had it hard? I have a hole in my stomach.”

Nadricka glared at Robia but not even Robia could ruin his good mood. He leaned his head back against the sofa.

To be honest, he was used to being treated that way. Like a toy, without a single care for his feelings or opinions. 

The way Yuriel played with him was practiced. When she was tired, she took out her frustration on him. When she was in a good mood, she felt him up and when she was bored, she made him do different things and was entertained by his distress.

Today, she had forced him to drink glass after glass of hard liquor. Her devil-may-care attitude, despite knowing he hated it, was like his past owners’, so he hadn’t been surprised. The only difference was, she wasn’t his owner.

Robia split into two Robias in front of his eyes then fused back, over and over.

“You look terrible.”

“Stop yapping and get to the point.”

“As you know, the key is to give off a certain ‘impression’. We can make up a story, but whether or not they fall for it is up to them. The timing is important too. Essentially, it’s a gamble.”

“And that’s why I’ve been suffering.”

“Stop complaining. Our safety is our top priority. We can’t let ourselves be caught red-handed.”

“If you say so.”

“If things go to plan, you’ll be able to witness a rare and entertaining sight.”

Robia smiled.

“I can promise you that.”

***

“At the banquet?”

“I cannot believe it…”

“It’s true, I tell you. She’s been bringing him along, not a drop of shame.”

“Even so, there is no way she would bring him of all people-.”

“Ah, there she comes.”

All eyes went to a single place. As expected, Yuriel was entering the banquet hall with a man. 

He was as beautiful as Yuriel, walking beside her quietly with his eyes lowered – and he was also the princess’s concubine. Not the princess next to him, but the princess who had locked herself in the tower. 

The crowd had already seen him several times now. Nonetheless, they couldn’t take their eyes off of him.

The man’s white-gold hair swayed, while his white neck, shoulders, and waist were slender. Murmurs of admiration went through the crowd when they saw his cheeks slightly flushed in what could have been nervousness. 

They whispered to each other that it was no wonder that a slave had become the princess’s beloved concubine with looks like that. There was something about him that lit the hidden lust in people’s hearts before they knew it.

The more people stared, the lower the fair-skinned concubine bowed his head.

“It’s true.”

“I told you. Then that rumor must be true too…”

“What rumor?”

“Apparently, the second princess went after scores of Her Majesty’s men while she was a maid. Which implies that she was jealous of the first princess who was raised as a princess since she was young…”

Ding!

Public affection decreases by 15. 

Current public affection level: -165

Yuriel glared, and scanned the crowd. The gossipers let out embarrassed coughs and scattered. But once lost, the public’s affection couldn’t be restored.

Despite her soured mood, Yuriel made her expression pleasant when she spotted Kairos from afar. She’d shown him that she was interested, so it was time for him to reciprocate. If he would only come over first, the banquet would be a success.

Right then, a glass of champagne appeared before her on a silver tray. Holding the tray was Nadricka.

“Would you like a glass?”

Yuriel peered at Nadricka and decided to kill time playing with him until Kairos came. Nadricka was fun to bring along to places.

“I don’t know. There’s nothing to eat with it. What do you think I should do?”

“…You can just eat me.”

His reply came after a delay, but Yuriel didn’t care. She was bullying him because she liked seeing him grovel and worry that he was upsetting her. Her only complaint was that his ‘submission’ count wasn’t going up.

“How? Just looking at you isn’t enough, you know,”

Yuriel said, and slapped Nadricka’s bottom. Of course, she had no trouble keeping a poker face because she’d done it in such a way that no one would notice.

“Is this good?”

Yuriel took the glass with a satisfied expression and took a sip. Nadricka felt his mouth twitch and struggled to keep a straight face.

That’s when Yuriel saw it. 

“What’s this?”

Lifting the glass had revealed a crumpled piece on the silver platter. Yuriel quickly grabbed it and hid it in the folds of her dress before someone could see it.

“Who gave this to you? Did they tell you to give it to me?”

“Ah, it was that servant over there…”

Nadricka innocently glanced at a servant. The servant was whispering something into the crown prince’s ear. 

That was when the crown prince met Yuriel’s eyes. 

He flashed her a small smile and nodded his head. Yuriel covered her face with her fan and quickly read the note. 

[Second floor. The last room where you can see the fountain.]

She crumpled the note in her hand. She straightened, completely aroused. 

It looked like the crown prince was about to excuse himself from the banquet hall on account of not feeling well. Yuriel stared hard at the crown prince as he passed her by unhurriedly.

“Your Highness?”

“Go back. I don’t need you anymore.”

“Pardon?”

“Didn’t you hear me? Go.”

“…Understood.”

Nadricka obediently bowed his head. 

The stares made his skin prickle. He was aware how everyone saw him. He’d heard them loudly proclaim that a sex slave would always be a sex slave. Most people thought that way.

But as he retreated, Nadricka watched with slight surprise as his reputation, which he didn’t think could sink any lower, got destroyed.

He didn’t care about something as inconsequential as his reputation. As long as Her Highness believed he was sincere, as long as she loved him. 

And that’s why he could do anything. For Her Highness.

He’d done his part. 

It was Robia’s turn next. It wouldn’t be so bad to sit back and observe what kind of wild thing he had planned.

The note was, in reality, supposed to be sent to Jarvin Pollock, the secret lover of Viscountess Evonto, during the hubbub of the party. It certainly had nothing to do with Yuriel, let alone Kairos. 

Jarvin Pollock was a handsome man who had entered the princess’s bedchamber several times, and was famous because the princess favored him so much that she’d promoted him to a government post. He would grow old without being able to marry. That was because of his less-than-stellar reputation, and because he would be removed from his post as he got older. 

No one knew he was the lover of the Viscountess Evonto, the leader of the new faction, who had adored him since she was a girl. No one besides Robia, that is.

If the truth were revealed, it would be a blow not just to the viscountess but to the faction itself. At the very least, it would be a permanent stain on the viscountess’s political career. 

Robia found out about their relationship partly by chance. Right after he’d been discarded by the princess, when he still hadn’t given up and was busy snooping around, Viscountess Evonto had visited the princess. And so, he had looked into her background. 

Nadricka looked more disgusted with Robia than he usually did after hearing the story, but oh well. 

Over the last two days, Nadricka had paid close attention to the lovers as they exchanged notes on silver platters while pretending to set down their cocktails. And today, he had succeeded in intercepting one of them, which he’d given to Yuriel.

He’d watched as the viscountess’s face filled with dismay, so he doubted the lovers would appear at the secret meeting spot. 

Now, the only thing left to do was for a bunch of uninvited guests to flock to the place. Apparently by coincidence, even though it had been planned from the beginning.

***

Kairos’s delegation was turned upside down. 

An anonymous tip had come in. The crown prince and the princess were having a secret rendezvous!

They had begged that damn crown prince to stay out of trouble, so how could he, and with the princess no less? And on the floor above the banquet hall? There should be a saying that crown princes are always to blame for any disgrace a nation suffers. 

Count Romaine turned beet-red with anger and shame. 

“Shall we go see if he’s returned to the palace?”

“What’s the point of that?! Go upstairs! Now!”

“But what if they’re doing “it”…”

Seeing his superior’s face turn red with anger, the attendant nodded and dashed outside. 

***

“You’re out really early today.”

Nadricka flashed a small smile in response to the shy comment. Yuriel’s maid blushed. 

“I’m going to go, so please, head inside. She will need someone to attend to her.”

“Pardon? But…”

“She went up to the second floor to rest, I think, so you should bring her something to drink. You’ll be fine as long as you humor her. Don’t worry.”

Nadricka kept walking down the path. Soon, he was far away. 

Jumping when she realized she’d been watching him walk away as his hair fluttered in the wind, the maid scampered into the banquet hall.

***

“What are you talking about? What do you mean Her Highness has been stealing documents regarding the negotiations?”

“I’m not sure either… It’s just that we’ve received intelligence about it…”

“How could this be…”

The count continued running his hands through his hair, with a distressed look on his face.

“But shouldn’t we at least check it out? We won’t be able to expose the fact, but if it’s true, we need to make sure nothing like this happens again if we want to survive.”

“But Her Highness has no reason to do that…!”

“There’s been a lot of talk about how she’s fallen head over heels for the crown prince. It’s possible she’s doing it to win his favor–”

“First, first, let’s go to the spot it mentions!”

“We’re not informing His Majesty first?”

“Do you want to risk your neck reporting an unsupported rumor?! Don’t you think we should first gather proof?”

“Then let’s hurry to the banquet hall!”

***

“Move out of the way!”

“Please state who you are first.”

A bony man was shouting and breathing hard. In his hand was an anonymous letter that had been crumpled up savagely. The letter told of his wife’s affair in detail. 

“I’m Viscountess Evonto’s husband! I’m here to see my wife, so get, out, of, my way!”

“But I cannot let you in without an invitation…”

“Let go of me!”

The man ran into the building with two soldiers in pursuit. He scanned the room until he spotted the stairs leading to the second floor and ran up the steps with long strides. 

“Sir! I will call the viscountess here if you wait outside!”

“Shut your mouth!”

“We’ll be in trouble if you do this!”

“Shut your mouth, I said!”

And so, the first ones in the second-floor hallway of the banquet hall were a few members of the Rothschild delegation, Princess Yuriel’s maid, the influential members of the empire’s negotiation team including the count and his attendants, and Viscountess Evonto’s husband.

Having run into each other in their hurry to get there, the gathered party got the sudden feeling that things were about to go south, no matter how the situation played out.

Everyone turned toward the closed door.

The Rothschild delegation members cautiously spoke up.

“What brings everyone here…”

Suddenly, the count was filled with fury. As soon as he saw the familiar face of Yuriel’s maid and the shocked members of the Rothschild delegation, it finally sank in.

It wasn’t even the crown prince? She’d been directly in contact with the Rothschild delegation?

When he’d heard she was stealing intelligence, he hadn’t imagined it would be to this scale. This was bigger than just falling for the crown prince.

The count couldn’t stop himself from roaring,

“What in the world do you think you’re doing?!”

The delegation flinched, already feeling guilty about the crown prince’s thoughtlessness. They yelled back,

“Wh-What are you talking about?! Y-You should have kept a more watchful eye on your princess!”

Struck with dismay, the count finally turned to look at his surroundings. He had to see who’d been listening if he wanted to stop word from spreading later. A few confused soldiers, and…

The maid suddenly began banging on the door. 

“Your Highness! Please hurry and come out! Your Highness! I think you should come out! These nobles out here are…”

The viscountess’s husband grabbed the maid’s arm and pulled.

“Is it Her Highness the princess in there? Are you sure?”

More people were gathering because of the sudden commotion. As the situation became more baffling, the delegation got a bad feeling and tried to sneak away. 

“We understand now. I think we should quietly leave here before…”

“Get out here! Right now! Rachelle Evonto!”

The man shouted and banged on the door.

“What are you doing? Her Highness the princess is inside this…”

“Move!”

The count blocked the man’s path. The man’s eyes were wild.

“Who are you?”

“I am Viscountess Evonto’s husband. I came to the viscountess! I must have a look at that room!”

“The viscountess is not inside this room!”

The Rothschild delegation chipped in,

“That’s right! No one is inside that room! You must be mistaken!”

From their response, the count was able to infer one thing. It wasn’t just the princess who was inside the room, but the crown prince was in there too!

If that was the case, that was more reason not to open this room to the public. The count quickly issued his orders to his attendants.

“Hurry and bring Viscountess Evonto here! She’s probably on the first floor!”

“Understood!”

“Quickly! You must find her as quickly as you can.”

The count turned around immediately and yelled,

“Ho! How could a man your age act so rashly?! Did you not hear me say there’s no one inside?!”

“This has nothing to do with you, sir! You need only to open the door, but instead, you stand in my way. I cannot help but be suspicious! Do not tell me you knew about this as well?”

“…What do you mean? I-I have no idea what you speak of!”

Could the informant be the viscountess’s husband? He came from good stock, but that was it. There was no way he could have found this out. And it wouldn’t make sense for him to come here and cause a disturbance…

Then could it have been the viscountess herself? What could she want? Was it possible she was trying to ruin the negotiations…?

The count’s thoughts were chaotic with various theories and unsupported fears.

“Stand aside!”

“I said there is no one in the room!”

“What gives you the authority to block the door?”

“Wh-What did you say?”

At that moment, the count felt very conflicted.

Should I just abandon the princess?

Yuriel wasn’t even helpful to the negotiations. This was an opportunity to make sure she would never be able to stick her nose in again. Moreover, they could turn the tables on the negotiations, which had been tipping in favor of the Rothschild delegation…

But how could he do that to a princess…?

As the count began to relax, a member of the delegation stepped forward.

“Why are you doing this?!” yelled the viscountess’s husband.

“Why don’t you calm down! We keep telling you that you’re mistaken! In that room is…”

That was when it happened. The door opened. From the inside.

The one who came out was a somewhat pale Princess Yuriel. The door closed right away.

“I was the only one inside the room. So stop making a ruckus and piss off.”

“But…”

“What is the cause of all this commotion?”

The emperor’s personal aide approached the group. Everyone hastily moved out of the way and bowed their heads.

“Explain.”

“I just need to open the door! Please allow me to!”

The man bowed his head toward the aide as he breathed hard. The count clicked his tongue and the delegation flinched and fidgeted anxiously.

“Are you doing this knowing the consequences of trespassing on the banquet hall without an invitation?”

“But my wife, the viscountess, is…”

“The viscountess did what exactly?”

That was when an earthshaking cry rang out.

“What are you doing over there?!”

A woman in black formalwear raced to the scene. Her eyes were fierce and lined with wrinkles, and they had the ability to make anyone who saw them lower theirs.

It was Viscountess Evonto.

“My husband has committed a breach of etiquette. I will gladly accept any punishment in his stead.”

“What are you doing here? Th-Then, who is inside the room–”

“Who is in that room for you to cause all this commotion?!”

At the viscountess’s scolding, her husband turned red and bit his lip. But his expression wasn’t one of concession.

“Then has everything been resolved?”

The aide asked, clearly ready to take their leave. The man clung onto the aide in desperation. Because the only person who could let him see inside the room was the aide.

“Please! Please let me have one look at the room! Isn’t it strange?! I do not understand why they would block the door like that! I will accept any punishment, so please!”

The aide touched their forehead and let out a sigh.

“Open the door.”

“You cannot!”

This time, it was the delegation that raised a strong objection.

“I do not believe this has anything to do with you.”

“We say this because there is no one in the room! Why do we have to listen to that man?”

Even as the words were being exchanged, a fierce battle was being waged inside the count. Whose side would he take? What would be the most advantageous?

“There is no one inside! Let us just show them and put an end to this!”

Yuriel said frustratedly out of the blue, and the count’s sense of urgency grew. Did she not care whether they discovered the crown prince inside?

“Your Highness.”

He looked at Yuriel and gave her a slight shake of his head. As he did, Yuriel’s brow furrowed.

“What exactly is going on–”

“Your Highness! Please do not do anything! We will handle it!”

The delegation shouted at last, turning toward Yuriel.

“Handle what?! No one’s in the room, and I was just resting inside for a moment! Open the door, now! Open it!”

While the soldiers were hesitating, one of the delegation members completely blocked the doorway.

“Please send everyone away! Then I will tell you…”

“His Majesty is approaching!”

Yuriel cursed under her breath. Only the count, who was standing closest to her, heard it and flinched.

“Your Majesty.”

“I told you to go see what was going on. What is taking you so long?”

“Pardon me. Things were more complicated than I thought…”

The emperor scanned the responsible parties. And then he raised a lopsided smirk and said,

“This is a strange group. Were you carrying on with the negotiations secretly here?”

“What are you saying? That is not true, Your Majesty. We would not dare to carry out secret negotiations.”

The delegation was bewildered, but their response was even and light like that of an innocent person. Only their expressions were unnatural because they were hiding something.

The count finally resolved himself.

“Your Majesty! I have committed a grave offense!”

He fell to the floor before the emperor’s feet. And then, the dice was rolled. The count shut his eyes tight, took a deep breath, and lifted his head.

“We received some intelligence.”

“Intelligence?”

“…It was intelligence that the princess has been leaking information to the other side.”

“That’s absolutely ridiculous!”

Yuriel shouted in genuine anger.

“It’s not true, Your Majesty! What are you talking about, Count!”

“Tell all those unrelated to this affair to leave us.”

The aide began putting the emperor’s words into action immediately. People were pushed out of the hallway like they were being carried on a bunch of rice water.

“Your Majesty.”

Her voice was earnest. The emperor glanced at Yuriel once, then turned away.

“Continue.”

“We came by some intelligence that another rendezvous was planned for today, so in order to ascertain the truth before making our report to Your Majesty…”

“You came here, and saw the princess and members of the delegation.”

“…Yes.”

“That is absurd! We! We came here because…!”

“Speak.”

“…We heard that the crown prince would be here.”

“The crown prince?”

Everyone looked at the closed door.

“Then are you saying he is in there?”

“…”

“Does this mean you are confessing to your crimes?”

“Pardon? No, that’s not it! We were afraid that something would happen, on account of the crown prince and princess’s close friendship… As we are in the middle of concluding a treaty between our two nations, it is a sensitive time! We had no ulterior motives! Please believe us!”

“What are you talking about?”

The count gave the delegate a look of disbelief. Yuriel’s anger had reached its breaking point, and she shouted,

“There is nothing between your crown prince and me! And I keep telling you that there’s no one in the room!”

“Why can’t you see that reacting this way does nothing to solve the problem, Your Highness! Please use your head,”

The delegation countered coolly.

“What? What did you just say to me?”

Yuriel took out the note she’d been hiding up her sleeve and threw it hard at the delegate’s face. The note hit the man in the eye and fell to the floor.

“Your high and mighty crown prince sent me this note! And so I came here wondering what it could be about, but ha! Use my head? You were worried something would happen? I’ve been leaking information? I can’t even laugh!”

“A note…?”

The count picked up the note which had fallen in front of his knee, and opened it. Everyone fell into silence while they went to read the note.

The viscountess’s husband couldn’t let go of his suspicion and spoke first.

“Th-Then, the one waiting for you in that room was the crown—”

“Shut your mouth! This is no place for you to speak up!”

The viscountess shouted, cutting him off.

Right after that, the viscountess quickly and courteously greeted the emperor before getting on one knee next to the count. 

“Viscountess. It’s been a while.”

“Your Majesty, I apologize. I should have kept a closer watch on my husband…”

“Why are you here, Viscountess? And with you husband, at that.”

“…”

The viscountess’s husband glanced at his wife and spoke cautiously.

“I was supposed to find out the identity of the viscountess’s, my wife’s long-time lover if I came here…”

“Or so you heard?”

“Yes!”

“I can’t believe you! How dare you come to the palace for something like that?!”

At the viscountess’s reproach, the man’s face fell.

But he was sick and tired of not being able to express his anger at the viscountess who almost never came home. Could she have gotten this influential as a lowly viscountess without his family’s support? She’d received all kinds of support…

More than anything, he couldn’t stand her disrespecting him. Had she said to see any woman he wanted since she would see any man she wanted?

“If you have a lover, you should just bring him in as a concubine instead of making your husband charge headfirst into the palace, Viscountess.”

“…I will gladly accept any punishment.”

“So you must. But before that, there is one question remaining.”

The emperor glanced at each and every person before speaking up.

“Open the door.”

No one dared to rebel against his command.

The door opened without ceremony, making the whole fuss seem meaningless.

“Did something happen? Everyone’s here.”

It was the crown prince.

Everyone turned around. The crown prince was casually walking down the hall toward them – from the other side of the door. 

There really was no one inside the room.

Yuriel exploded at all of them.

“I told you there was no one inside!”

The viscountess’s husband searched the room in disbelief, but there wasn’t even an ant. The delegation murmured dejectedly,

“What are you doing over there…?”

The crown prince let out a puzzled laugh.

“I went for a little walk outside the palace… but the aide came looking for me in a panic.”

“A walk? Did you just say you went for a walk?”

Yuriel asked sarcastically.

“…Yes? Is there some sort of problem?”

“Ha! You called me here, and now you’re saying you went for a walk? ‘Is there a problem?’”

“…I have no idea what you’re talking about, Princess. It seems there’s been a misunderstanding–”

“Do you realize what kind of humiliation I just had to endure because of you?!”

“That’s not something for you to be angry over, Your Highness.”

Seeing the crown prince outside of the room, the color came back to the delegation members’ faces.

“If you hadn’t acted that way, we wouldn’t have misunderstood! And we’ve been falsely accused of this ridiculous thing thanks to you!”

“What did you say? If I hadn’t acted what way?”

“…Hm, hm! If my word choice was inappropriate, I apologize.”

“There’s no ‘if’! It was, you bastard!”

“Yuriel.”

Yuriel had opened her mouth to speak, but closed it with some effort.

“Your Majesty. I’m sure you believe me that I have been treated unfairly. Isn’t that right?”

There was no trust in those eyes. Suddenly, Yuriel felt her stomach drop. But she regained her composure soon after.

It was the same look he’d had when he sent the princess to the tower that night. He’d taken Yuriel’s side with those eyes. So it wouldn’t be any different now.

But she couldn’t stop resentment from surging up. This time, this time she really hadn’t done it.

“It appears you have little honor for your own country. Not only do you dare insult the princess in front of me, but you don’t seem repentant in the least.”

“Th-That’s…!”

“Orvitte will not overlook this incident. You will take responsibility, whatever form it takes. Do you understand?”

“…”

The emperor looked at each member of the delegation with his eyes full of condemnation and scorn in turn. The delegation members kept their mouths shut tight and tried not to acknowledge that the situation was getting way out of hand.

How had this happened? The princess had been the only one in the room. They could have acted after they had looked into the matter more. How, how

Their distrust of the crown prince and secret belittlement of the princess, their sense of responsibility as ambassadors to take the other empire down a peg…

If they had been a little lacking in any one of those, if any one of those things had been less.

“And unless these doubts that were raised can be silenced, it will be impossible to continue the negotiations. Until then, I am temporarily suspending the talks.”

The emperor said that and left.

“Tie up that man and take him away.”

The aide ordered the soldiers to restrain the viscountess’s husband, and left.

“You’re playing dumb even after seeing this note? Are you happy about getting off scot-free al by yourself?”

Yuriel snapped at Kairos and dropped the note on the floor, after which she stepped on it with her heel. After that series of actions, the crown prince flinched and raised his leg like he thought she was about to kick him in the shin.

Yuriel yelled at him with a fed-up expression,

“You coward.”

And then she left the scene without a glance backward. Kairos jaw dropped in slight shock, but he quickly shut his mouth again. It appeared like he was suddenly deep in thought. 

The count had already crept away long before in fears of getting caught in the crossfire.

“You did well. Backing out was the right move in this situation.”

The delegation patted the crown prince’s shoulder.

“You don’t believe me either? I said you’re wrong!”

“Of course. You did well.”

“…”

Kairos let out an irritated sigh, then turned to walk the other way. The delegation followed him.

Now alone, Viscountess Evonto quietly collected the mercilessly crumpled note from where it had been thrown onto the floor. And then she straightened her posture. 

Everyone had been too busy accusing each other without any evidence…

It had truly been a mess. Of course, she couldn’t talk because she had been tricked, too.

The viscountess let out a laugh. 

It was amazing that no one had caught on. She was the one who had written this note. 

And the bastard knew that she couldn’t disclose that fact.

That man, the princess’s concubine. When he intercepted the note, he had looked at the viscountess as if to confirm something. As if to ask, ‘you saw me take it, right?’

The viscountess couldn’t forget the look in his eyes at that moment. He was cheeky enough to make her an accomplice, but he wanted to keep his morals intact?

She had witnessed quite the entertaining sight thanks to him. If those parties failed to realize they’d been caught in the bastard’s trap, if they regarded the events of today as mere bad luck, then the identity of the culprit would be buried forever. 

“How amusing.”

He had taught her what it felt like to have no choice but let herself be used, so she should return the favor. 

She would pay back that debt someday. 

The viscountess smiled and left the hallway. 

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Translator’s note: i’m sad this chapter doesn’t have ria in it but it was so long already that i decided to cut it here so ria can come back next week!

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